To celebrate April as Architecture Month, AIA Honolulu invites the public to join in a free film presentation and panel discussion:

Made in Ilima, a 2017 feature-length documentary film by MASS Design Group. Produced by Alan Ricks and Michael Murphy, Directed and Edited by Thatcher Bean and Cinematography is by Rachel Brose.

In the center of Equator Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Ilima community remains one of the most isolated in the world. They have coexisted with endangered wildlife in their surrounding forest for generations, but as the pace of development has increased, this fragile ecosystem has suffered. They partnered with the African Wildlife Foundation and nonprofit architecture firm, MASS Design Group, in 2012 to create a new conservation focused primary school and community center. This film documents their collective building process - one aimed at leveraging local craft and ecological knowledge towards education, preservation, and beauty.